Posted on 11/23/2012 1:31:04 AM PST by SoFloFreeper
About a third of all tumors discovered in routine mammography screenings are unlikely to result in illness, according to a new study that says 30 years of the breast cancer exams have resulted in the overdiagnosis of 1.3 million American women.
The report, published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, argues that the increase in breast cancer survival rates over the last few decades is due mostly to improved therapies and not screenings, which are intended to flag tumors when they are small and most susceptible to treatment. Instead, the widespread use of mammograms now results in the overdiagnosis of breast cancer in roughly 70,000 patients each year, needlessly exposing those women to the cost and trauma of treatment, the authors wrote.
"Our study raises serious questions about the value of screening mammography," wrote Dr. H. Gilbert Welch, an epidemiology and biostatistics professor at Dartmouth College's Geisel School of Medicine. "It clarifies that the benefit of mortality reduction is probably smaller, and the harm of overdiagnosis probably larger, than has been previously recognized."
(Excerpt) Read more at touch.latimes.com ...
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Under Obamacare, research and development of new tests and treatments will be stymied. After all the resources are used to pay for abortions and free care of aliens, there won't be any money for R&D.
I will not have a mammogram again. Instinct told me this can’t be good for me. I now do thermography for breast checks.
While it would be optimal if mammograms caused no discomfort or pain. But sadly compression is necessary for a good image. It isn’t like the people performing the mammogram are sadists.
If medicine had an equally effective method that was less painful they would use it.
On Thermography.
Instincts and feelings are not valid reasons to make medical decisions. We use this new methoid now called “science” /s
FDA Safety Communication: Breast Cancer Screening - Thermography is Not an Alternative to Mammography
Purpose:
The FDA is issuing this communication to alert the public, including women and health care providers, that thermography is not a replacement for screening mammography and should not be used by itself to diagnose breast cancer. The FDA is not aware of any valid scientific data to show that thermographic devices, when used on their own, are an effective screening tool for any medical condition including the early detection of breast cancer or other breast disease.
http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/Safety/AlertsandNotices/ucm257259.htm
I will go with what is best for me! Science and the medical community have not always been right. I know of many examples in my own life where the doctors were wrong. I had to use my instinct to know to look elsewhere, and I was finally helped!
Another example would be the death of George Washington who was bled to death by doctors thinking they were getting rid of poisons in the blood.
I will never follow blindly what the medical community or the govt. tells me. I do my own research. You sent me an article, but I could send you others stating the opposite.
“It is estimated that 226,870 women will be diagnosed with and 39,510 women will die of cancer of the breast in 2012... From 2005-2009, the median age at death for cancer of the breast was 68 years of age.” - National Cancer Institute
“It is estimated that 241,740 men will be diagnosed with and 28,170 men will die of cancer of the prostate in 2012... From 2005-2009, the median age at death for cancer of the prostate was 80 years of age.” - National Cancer Institute
From this we can determine that value Obamacare places on the lives of females significantly declines after the age of 60, and for males, after the age of 70.
Obama’s own healthcare czar, Donald Berwick, has been quoted as a big proponent of the rationing of government healthcare services taking them away from the sick and elderly in order to save money.
Contrary to what some say, it’s really not that bad. Uncomfortable? Yes. Painful? No. Not really. At least it shouldn’t be. The plates do squeeze and flatten out the breasts quite a bit, more than you’d think is possible and it is very uncomfortable. I would describe it as a dull ache more than anything akin to a sharp or unbearable pain, but they don’t “crush” them and there is no lingering pain or discomfort after the test is done.
When I had my first base line mammogram, the worst part was that after the first image was taken, they told me to sit in the dressing room in case they had to get another image, which they did. And then they called me back in for a third and when I came back into the mammography room the third time, they had an image of my breast with something circled on it. Then they told me the doctor wanted to examine me. That really freaked me out even though my GYN had warned me that might happen with a baseline. The doc at the imaging center performed a thorough breast exam and passed me, telling me it was just a fatty deposit and not a lump but that they would continue to look at it the next time I came in. Even with three mammograms in one day, I didn’t even have any bruising or tenderness afterward.
Many years ago I had a cervical endometrial biopsy with some local anesthetic that evidently didn’t work like it should have. Now that was painful! I’m soon going to have my first colonoscopy. Not looking forward to that, especially the prep 24 hours in advance but it’s worth having done. Having seen a relative die from breast cancer and a friend’s husband from colon cancer, I can say that the diagnostic test was the very least of it.
There is a sisterhood of like-thinking gals, like us, out there. I had my last mammogram years ago. My doctor thinks I am a kook .....evidently, some Freepers do too, but it is my life, my decision.
I meant to include you too.....sorry.....
But yet you are willing to blindly follow a modern day snake oil salesman?
http://www.quackwatch.com/11Ind/mercola.html
OH PLEASE!! I did my research..... many doctors believe in thermography, including mine who helped me recover from Lyme Disease.
11 of your so called expert doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me.
Amazing how you feel the need to put me down. You believe what you what you want to believe and I’ll take care of myself. Not all doctors think alike, you know!!
Thank you, Jch10! Amen!
I wasn’t trying to “put you down” but you posted a link to “Dr.” Mercola’s website that is chock full of pseudoscience and unsubstantiated claims about the benefits of thermography, including claims it can diagnose diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, Carpal tunnel syndrome, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, irritable bowel syndrome, diverticulitis, Crohn's disease … and that “inflammation is the culprit responsible or a precursor for many chronic diseases”.
His website also sells all sorts of dietary supplements and creams and a product called “Power Plate” which is some sort of vibration device that he claims is better and more effective than exercise. “Using PrecisionWave™ Technology – a high-fidelity harmonic vibration system – this revolutionary training technique delivers controlled waves of energy racing throughout your body.” All for the amazing discounted price of $7,999.00. Call now, operators are standing by. /sarcasm.
In addition the “Dr.” (actually not an MD BTW, but an Osteopath) sells his own brand of ceramic cookware, claiming that “common metal cookware” is “toxic” and he also sells the “Mercola Vitality Home Tanning Bed” claiming that it is better than sunshine for vitamin D production, actually reverses wrinkles and helps give you more youthful skin and provides temporary relief of muscle and joint pain, stiffness, and spasm and improves blood circulation (oh and you can get a nice tan from it). That’s right, mammograms are bad but tanning beds are good for you, well at least he claims his are good for you.
Among the “services” other than thermography offered at Dr. Mercola's Natural Health Center are: Detoxification, Chiropractic, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), Homeopathy, Neuro-Structural Integration Technique (NST), Nutritional Typing Test, Total Body Modification (TBM), Active Isolated Stretching (AIS) – all a bunch of hokum to separate fools from their money and even more dangerous, to convince people that they shouldn’t trust modern medicine but instead should buy his products and services for big $$$. He is also anti-vaccination and makes many other ridiculous, false, unscientific and unsubstantiated claims, all while trying to sell you expensive products and services that you don’t need. And if that isn’t the definition of modern day snake oil salesman, I don’t know what is.
Thermography does have a place as a legitimate diagnostic tool under some circumstances by those properly trained in its use, but it is not a replacement for mammography along with regular self breast exams for the early detection of breast cancer.
Again, I’m not trying to “put you down”, but you posted a link to the website, and I’m just asking you to more research and to do so with a critical mind, not an emotional mind. Mammograms are not dangerous, they are not really painful, the amount of radiation is not dangerous, they will not “give” you breast cancer, they will not “crush” your breast and spread breast cancer if there is any and are much better at detecting early stage breast cancer than thermography.
Another example would be the death of George Washington who was bled to death by doctors thinking they were getting rid of poisons in the blood.
And what “Dr.” Mercola's Natural Health Center is promoting is the modern equivalent of “blood letting”.
One of my best friends was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer a month ago. She found the lump during a self exam, and a mammo confirmed it, though only a clear cyst. Rechecked last month and it spread to her chest wall and lympnodes. She had her first chemo 2 weeks ago and is in for a year of hellish treatment, including a bilateral mastectomy.
She’s just 42.
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